


Those Flowers Look Just Like The Ones From My Garden

by cophine_trash



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F, Flowers au, based on a tumblr text post I saw a while ago that wouldn't leave my brain, cophine - Freeform, essentially someone touches Cos on the bum without asking and now probably regrets it, small warning:, there is a moment of public transport non/con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-15 22:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7241146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cophine_trash/pseuds/cophine_trash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Delphine catches Cosima stealing flowers from her garden, and, assuming she is taking them to her girlfriend, demands to follow her to "make sure the girl is pretty enough for flower theft." But Cosima doesn't know how to tell her that they're not going where Delphine is expecting.<br/>(prompt from awful-aus on tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It is the absolute middle of winter, cold, dreary, grey; rain pelting down relentlessly on pedestrians heading towards the city. It's the sort of day where all the rain makes it in to the bus as Delphine steps on. Fresh water drips onto the inner platform when the driver opens the door, mingling old with new on the mud-caked floor.

As Delphine sits and attempts to shake off the excess water from her coat, she takes in her surroundings. It's not the sort of thing she'd ever say she was _proud_ of, because it's not typically something people talk about; but it's neither positive nor negative that Delphine likes to watch. Watch people, more specifically, going about their daily business.

She watches the way a man shuffles on the crowded bus to stand a little closer to the woman in front of him; jostling her very lightly but jostling all the same, hand darting out to press against the curve of her ass. His motives clear to every single passenger despite his intention for it not.

Delphine frowns. The woman is small, not young exactly but very petite. Delphine watches as she turns and smiles at the man behind her. It is sweet, her smile, and he must think so too because his lips curl up into what could have perhaps been a sneer had the woman not promptly slapped it directly off his face. He turned, throwing his hands up in the air at "the nerve of this bitch" but there were few who took pity on him. The passengers of this bus had seen too many examples of similar assaults play out on their daily commutes, they knew what to look for, what to expect. And as the man continued to silently wave his arms in indignation (not even he was game to break the heavy quiet of the vehicle more than once), a burly boy with a skateboard, he couldn't have been older than twenty despite his wide shoulders and considerable height, stepped around the woman with a small smile, guiding her behind his body as he stood facing backwards on the bus; stony faced and glaring at the older man.

All in all it was such a little interaction that anyone further back could have missed it, but Delphine didn't. She sat, and she watched, intrigued by this small woman who would stand up to the bigger man. Who stood up for herself without the flicker of a second thought despite the difference in their statures.

Delphine got on the bus at the same stop as this woman, and thinks how easy it could've been her. She thinks maybe the man would have been let to get away with it if it were.

Now the woman stands and sways with the movement of the bus, her thin dreadlocks tinkling occasionally on the metal of the pole she holds to keep her balance, her hand betraying perhaps the only outward sign of being troubled by what happened as it twitches against the large 'stop' button. Most intriguingly though to Delphine, was that even on such a day flooded with the greys and blacks of people's coats and the sky outside, this woman had protected the only piece of colour throughout the whole ordeal; her small bouquet of flowers, bursting with reds and greens and pinks, held tightly in her other hand.


	2. Chapter 2

It is, of course, exactly this incident that Delphine brings to mind less than two weeks later when, upon looking out her living room window, she finds the women from the bus delicately sampling flowers from Delphine's own beautiful garden to make up her growing bouquet.

This woman, who Delphine had looked to with almost unbridled fondness as a source inspiration, was here. _Stealing_ her flowers from right under her nose.

Delphine had thought of the woman a few times in the weeks since the incident on the bus, and wished somehow that she would get the chance to see her again; but the feelings of endearment and warmth she felt then were making way now to ones of personal betrayal. How dare she seem so likeable that Delphine had spent her precious time thinking about her, when now she was taking her beautiful, lovingly watered roses away from her!  
And oh! The bouquet from the bus! Were those flowers fruits of Delphine's hard labour too? The flicker of recognition Delphine feels for those flowers now could perhaps be a consequence of hindsight, she couldn't say, but at any rate Delphine was now personally offended that all the while she had been standing next to her holding flowers from her very own blood, sweat and tears.

  
Slamming her front door behind her as she stalked towards the woman, Delphine was pleased to see her jump. Yet, where Delphine thought it would be just plain manners to at least have the decency to look apologetic, or at the very least sheepish, this woman grinned. Grinned! The nerve of her!

* * *

 

As Cosima looked up to see the owner of the house she had been picking flowers from for weeks now storm towards her, she couldn't feel anything but glee. God, she had imagined this quaint little block could only be lived in by an elderly couple, or perhaps a spritely widower; at any rate someone who had enough time to maintain a garden of this size. She had spent time imagining their lives, imagining the way they might smile at her if they found her stealing their flowers, happy someone other than them was enjoying them. Perhaps happy that their flowers would be used to remind someone of another's love. What more could you desire for a creation than for it to be a symbol of love, or peace, or joy.

This woman, however, could not be further from Cosima's dream about the owners of the house, and honestly she was struggling to find it anything but funny. This woman was beautiful, her golden hair flowing around her shoulders, she was beautiful and tall and _angry_. Oh. She was angry and now she was close, close enough that her hands which she had been waving around in an attempt to express her displeasure were swatting the flowers out of Cosima's hands.

"Pardon, but what on earth do you think you are doing?! These are not yours! You did not work for these! You cannot just take them at will for your mother or your dog or your, your silly little girlfriend!"

  
French, Cosima realised. This woman was French, her accent washing over Cosima and making her feel a little giddy. She'd always had trouble regulating herself around beautiful women.

  
"My girlfriend?" Cosima said, confused that the woman would say such a thing.

"Yes! She must be pretty, no? Pretty enough to warrant wayward flower theft?" The woman was speaking while opening her front gate, exiting her garden and joining Cosima on the footpath. And then.

"Come on," the woman said, picking the little bouquet up from where it had landed on top of a lavender bush and handing them back to Cosima, "show me this beautiful woman who has driven you to such lengths."

  
Cosima watched as the woman began to walk towards the bus stop, stunned, firstly at the strange turn of events, but boggled as to how on earth the woman knew what bus she catches after picking the flowers.


	3. Chapter 3

"Have you been following me or something?" Cosima says as she jogs after the woman, the only explanation she could think of for why she might know where she catches her bus but not know where she ends up.

  
"Non." The woman shakes her head. "I have been on the bus with you before, I remember you from the day that awful man tried to grab you and you left your handprint on his face. I thought you were so strong standing up to him but the whole time you had been crushing my precious flowers in your grubby little hand!"

  
Cosima laughed, she remembers that day still, she had thought the man had honestly bumped into her until she felt his hand. She was glad for the skater in all honesty, she was acting on instinct mostly, and only once she had slapped the man did she stop to think she may have made things more dangerous for herself. That this woman had mistakenly looked up to her because of it and be the very same person she had been stealing from, Cosima simultaneously inspiring her and then taking advantage of her through her garden? Oh. It was too perfect. This was already turning into a story she wanted to tell people due to its sheer implausibility.

  
Still, Cosima was a little surprised when the blonde woman actually followed her onto the bus. She had not thought the women would follow through with the slightly ridiculous demand of hers.

  
"Well," Cosima had said, "if you really want to know where I'm taking these you better hop on."

  
And she had. Glaring at her a little and huffing as she sat down in the seat next to Cosima.

  
"I must ask, why did you assume I would be taking them to my girlfriend?" Cosima said, once the bus had taken off.

  
The woman just stared at her as though she was missing something entirely obvious.

  
"How often do you think I catch girls stealing flowers from my garden to give to their boyfriends?" She said, and Cosima realised maybe it was pretty obvious.

  
"Is she pretty?" The woman asked. Cosima coughed, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

  
"Uh, pretty, yeah absolutely. Smart, too. Really smart." Changing the topic, she asked "what about you though..." She leaned towards the woman hoping she would understand what she was going for.

  
"Delphine."

  
"What about you, _Delphine_ , what do you do that lets you have enough time to look after a garden but still afford to live in a house like that?"

  
Delphine shrugged. "I am an immunologist, I study host-parasite relationships. My garden is integral to my work."

  
"Huh. Wouldn't have picked you for that kind of stuff. I'm Evo-Devo. Cosima Niehaus." She said, sticking out her hand. "Nice to meet you. Also, we're here."

* * *

Exiting the bus, Delphine followed Cosima up a small hill, walking behind her thankful that it wasn't raining like it was on the day she first saw the woman. When they passed the sign for the cemetery, Delphine probably should have realised what was going to happen, but it wasn't until Cosima knelt down to place the flowers on the ground that Delphine understood the situation. Really, if she hadn't been so hot-headed and steadfast in her decision to follow the woman and probably lecture whoever she gave them to about where they were getting the flowers from, and at what cost, she might have realised the possibility of her not being entirely correct in knowing who they were going to visit.

  
'ELIZABETH CHILDS', the stone said, 'loving wife of Paul Dierden, sorely missed by all her friends, her sisters across the globe: Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena, Rachel, and Krystal, her brother Tony, and all those whose names she could not find, but who will miss her dedication all the same.'

  
"Hey Beth," Delphine heard Cosima start, "so the funniest thing happened, honestly, you'll never believe it. I missed your sense of humour at the end there but I'm pretty sure you'd like this one. So the other day I'm on the bus, right, and a guy tried to grab my butt and I slapped him. I know, I know," she said, shaking her head, "but the guy was a dick, he deserved it probably. I'd let you arrest me if you were there but I'd still do it. Anyway, I was coming to visit you, it was a couple of weeks ago now, I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was particularly interesting, the dude definitely wasn't worth wasting my breath on. But today, get this, I'm stealing flowers out of that garden I told you about when I first found it, and this gorgeous woman comes storming out, demanding to see the girl I'm stealing them for. She's like, personally offended because she recognised me from when she was actually there the other day on the bus and had thought I was cool, but she didn't realise I'd been holding flowers out of her garden the whole time. Point is, she's here, so now you can see the woman who grew all those beautiful flowers I've been leaving you. Pretty neat, huh."

  
"Cosima, I am so sorry."

  
"What? No, I'm the one who should be apologising here. I had this idea that the people who lived in the house must be old and wouldn't mind me nicking some flowers every now and then for my sister, but in hindsight that's actually pretty stupid and I should have at least asked. Plus, now Beth gets to see your face, which, really, is a blessing for anyone."

* * *

The next time Delphine looks outside her living room window and sees the small woman, grin plastered on her face, stealing flowers from her garden, she smiles. Gives her a small wave. And when the girl walks back from the bus after her visit, Delphine is waiting, and Cosima says yes when she invites her in for tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think this is the first and only story I've ever managed to finish (so far), sorry to anyone who is waiting for updates on the other ones, I promise I will get there eventually.
> 
> Please let me know if you liked this!!


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